ep. 5: Goddess of Creation and the Third Singularity
- Air date: May 12, 2024
Written by: Yuya Takahashi
Directed by: Takayuki Shibasaki
Summary
Click here to see the episode's key visual.
With the entire human race now under the mercy of a rogue AI bent on cleansing the world of malice by turning an already Deadly Game into a humanity self-destruction game where players are tricked to be killed by the villains. Tsumuri, the former navigator of the Desire Grand Prix seeks out Kuroto Dan to prevent more innocent people from being needlessly sacrificed to further Zein's forced utopia. 
Unfortunately for the Game Master himself, Zein proved to be invincible to deal with. However, all hope is not lost when a mysterious Kamen Rider appeared and stood before Kamen Rider Zein — Kamen Rider Zero-Three. This mysterious Rider's identity remains a mystery, but one surrounding question regarding this new Rider: is he a friend or a foe?
Tropes
- An Aesop: Even artificial intelligence have their own fair share of flaws in their programming, for better or worse, just as how humans live through their imperfections regardless of how they are judged by the world around them. Even Zein — who is programmed to be a Knight Templar Villain Killer can be easily outsmarted by chessmasters like Kuroto Dan, and its combat performance can be outpaced by a newer Rider like Zero-Three, showing that it's far from infallible.
- All Crimes Are Equal: Zein catches a yakuza transformed into a Ride-Player attacking innocent bystanders. Its course of action: Zein beats said player to within an inch of his life before carding him, and the carded player gets shredded afterwards.
- And I Must Scream: Ride Players getting a game over are imprisoned inside a Zein Card. And it's a horrifying experience to say the least. What's worse, Zein immediately shreds the imprisoned player's card afterwards.
- Asshole Victim: The yakuza who transforms into a Ride-Player that attempted to terrorize bystanders has his fate sealed by Zein. Not only does he get carded, his card gets shredded afterwards.
- Berserk Button: Two things that can make Zein see red are the prospects of being outsmarted and outperformed; the first causes Zein to snap and demolish Kuroto's Humagear after the latter baited the AI into using Zero-Two's card, and the second is what led to its Villainous Breakdown after its defeat by Zero-Three.
- Bittersweet Ending: Kuroto is revived as a human thanks to Kamen Rider Zero-Three being able to replicate the Goddess of Creation's powers. But Zein lives to fight another day after being saved from certain destruction by Evolt.
- Breather Episode: In a way, Kuroto's return in this episode serves as a break from the anthology's bleak undertones following episode 4's Downer Ending. This gets thrown out of the window as soon Zein shows up.
- The Bus Came Back: Kuroto Dan is back to being the central character after being Out of Focus for the entirety of the first season, almost two years since his last appearance.
- Cliffhanger: The episode ends with Zein narrowly escaping defeat, with a little help from, out of all people, Evolt.
- Darkest Hour: Continuing from the previous episode's Downer Ending, humanity is now under the mercy of a technological oppressor bent on cleansing humanity of malice. Even after unlocking Hyper Fumetsu, Genm ends up being defeated by Zein, completely destroying all hope of defying Zein... until Kamen Rider Zero-Three appears out of nowhere to oppose it. Evolt returns and saves Zein from certain defeat, with the AI living to fight another day.
- Double-Meaning Title: Tsumuri returns in this episode with the episode's title referencing her time as the Goddess of Creation, going hand-in-hand with the debut of Kamen Rider Zero-Three, a third-generation Rider in the same lineage of Rider Systems as Zero-One and Zero-Two that achieved a new level of Singularity. Zero-Three then replicates the Goddess' powers via Tsumuri's tears to reincarnate Kuroto as a human.
- Fate Worse than Death: Getting a Game Over from playing Kamen Rider Chronicle causes Ride Players to be imprisoned inside a Zein Card, and once Zein picks up that Ride Player's card, it's basically being sent inside a concentration camp. As a yakuza playing the game found out the hard way.
- Fusion Dance: Kamen Rider Zero-Two, represented by Satellite There and Ark-Zero fuse into Zero-Three.
- Head Turned Backwards: Genm's head gets turned facing backwards after getting a knuckle-sandwich from Zein.
- Hero Killer: Zein trashes Kuroto's Humagear body. Luckily, this doesn't stick as Zero-Three revives Kuroto as a human.
- History Repeats: With Zein having successfully relaunched Kamen Rider Chronicle and turned it into a humanity self-destruction game, it's basically invoking Suel's final DGP game in the final episodes of Kamen Rider Geats. Not helped by Tsumuri seeking out Kuroto Dan to prevent more innocent people from being needlessly killed to further Zein's ambitions.
- Hope Spot: Twice. Despite unlocking Hyper Fumetsu Gamer, Kuroto ends up losing to Zein. And in spite of Zero-Three being able to put Zein on the back foot, Evolt shows up to bail him out.
- Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Zein has begun carding people ever since restarting Kamen Rider Chronicle, which is far less justifiable than its killing of Mimei in episode 33 of Kamen Rider Gotchard.
- Looks Like Jesus: Kuroto is revived as a human, complete with Barbarian Longhair, minus the beard, going so far as to parody Christ's resurrection. It's made even funnier by the fact this is his actor Tetsuya Iwanaga's actual hair!
- Neck Lift:
- Zein grabs Kuroto by the throat before reducing his Humagear body to scrap metal.
- Zein does this to Zero-Three after disorienting them with Hyper Clock Up. This actually creates an opening for Zero-Three to use the Thousand Jacker to steal Zein's Progrisekey data.
- New Powers as the Plot Demands: Kuroto ends up getting another upgrade in the form of Genm Hyper Fumetsu Gamer. Given how his hairstyle reverts back to normal rather than his usual slicked one, it's safe to say his Genm Musou Gashat was rendered obsolete due to the Gashat being created from the Ark's malice, and the Ark itself being rendered off the grid in the previous episode.
- Not Afraid to Die: Just as Kuroto pulls a Suicide by Cop after he purposely de-powered his Hyper Fumetsu form, he says to Tsumuri he's ready to die so that someone can defeat Zein in his place. This is ironic for someone who’s been seeking immortality, and at one point started panicking when faced with the prospect of being Killed Off for Real.
- Power Copying: Zero-Three is able to replicate abilities of other characters (that aren't Kamen Riders) such as Tsumuri through her tears, as shown with them being able to replicate the Goddess of Creation's Reality Warper powers, granting Kuroto's wish to resurrect him as a human.
- Power Parasite: Kuroto manages to steal Kamen Rider Zero-Two's powers out of Zein, at the cost of powering down his Rider form.
- Second Coming: Kuroto's rebirth as a human is this in a nutshell. By allowing Zein to destroy his Humagear body, followed by Zero-Three using Tsumuri's tears to replicate the Goddess of Creation's powers to revive Kuroto as a human, his new appearance has him sport long hair that nearly resembles Jesus, minus the beard.
- Tempting Fate: Kuroto boasts that his Hyper Fumetsu give him absolute immortality. Unfortunately for him, Zein doesn't buy it and executes him using the Giffard Finish with the summoned Ultimate Vice.
- Tranquil Fury: Zein doesn't show anny emotion even when already irritated enough by Kuroto's antics. Once push comes to shove, Zein wastes no time reducing Kuroto's Humagear body into scrap metal.
- Villainous Breakdown: Zein undergoes one after being handed its first defeat by Kamen Rider Zero-Three, finding its loss unacceptable and ranting anbout its savior complex.
- Wham Shot:
- A yakuza member who plays Kamen Rider Chronicle gets imprisoned inside a Zein Card.
- Kamen Rider Zero-Three debuts in this episode.
- Evolt returns, stronger than ever, as a supporter to Zein.
- Zero-Three revives Kuroto as a human!
- Xanatos Gambit: Even though Zein managed to defeat Kuroto in Hyper Fumetsu and destroyed his Humagear body afterward, it was practically going to be a victory for Kuroto regardless of the outcome. In the end, stealing away and freeing Zero-Two's powers from Zein's control to restore Satellite There served to create Kamen Rider Zero-Three, who promptly revived Kuroto as a flesh-and-blood human before going off to fight Zein on their own.
- Your Soul Is Mine!: A variant. When Zein imposes a penalty for Ride-Players getting a Game Over by carding, the carded player is then shredded into the Zein Driver, giving the impression that Zein absorbs the carded player into itself just like the data of the Riders stored in the Zein Cards being integrated into its database after use.
